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RSSGifts for Life
by The Rev. Barbara Cawthorne Crafton
12/21/2005
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness-- on them light has shined. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy... -- Isaiah 9:2-3
Nobody will be here when we awaken on Christmas morning -- our children are grown, and will awaken in their own houses. It will be a Sunday morning, so there will be normal church. A nice dinner. Some guests later. And then just Q and me.
"What do you want for Christmas?" he asked earlier this month.
"Oh, I don't know," I answered. "There's nothing I need.. How about you?"
"The same," he said. "I have everything I need."
And so we've decided to give each other Episcopal Relief and Development for Christmas. We'll sit down with their "Gifts for Life" catalogue on Christmas afternoon and choose something wonderful. We already know it will be wonderful because of how wonderful my recent ordination anniversary was. I have rarely had as much fun as I had marking 25 years of priesthood.
"How much did they get, again?" he asked.
"Almost $20,000."
"Wow. That's a lot of pigs."
Yup. I got lots of pigs. I got mosquito nets and fish farms.. I got seeds and farming tools. I got schooling for African AIDS orphans -- Q himself gave me a year's schooling for 30 children. 30!
I don't know what we'll choose on Christmas Day. Maybe Hurricane Katrina aid and Pakistani earthquake aid, in a 50/50 split. Maybe something else. But we have plenty of lovely coffee and tea, and I have baked lots of cookies. I hear it might snow, and we have plenty of firewood. We have some good Christmas CDs -- music to choose Gifts for Life by.
Could a Christmas afternoon be happier? Two people more blessed? If so, I can't imagine how.
